Kissick Alkaline Bog Lake

State Natural Area (No. 191)

Location: Within Kissick Swamp Wildlife Area, Sawyer County. T41N-R9W, Section 19 SE¼. 135 acres.

Access: From the intersection of U.S. Highway 63 and State Highway 27(S) in Hayward, go west on 63 0.3 mile (about 5 blocks), then west on Vermont Avenue (which becomes County Hill Road) 2.3 miles to a small parking area north of the road.

Description: Kissick Alkaline Bog Lake features a 10-acre wilderness lake with an extensive open bog and northern wet forest. An apparent pH gradient exists in the bog mat, varying from a typical acid shrub bog on the south edge to a more alkaline, sedge-dominated bog at the north edge. In small wet depressions are an abundance of sundews, arrow-grass, northern bladderwort, and boreal bog sedge with leather-leaf, Labrador-tea, and bog-rosemary surrounding the bog. Water flows slowly out of the lake at the northwest corner through an area of small braided water trails cutting across the sphagnum-sedge mat and entering the coniferous swamp dominated by black spruce and tamarack. White spruce, balsam fir, and white cedar are also present with blue-joint grass, common lake sedge, and broad-leaved cat-tail suggesting a slightly higher nutrient content present than is typical for the usual acid bog. The acid to alkaline variation in the substrate fosters high plant diversity with more than 100 vascular plants, 14 species of orchid, and such rare species as marsh willow-herb (Epilobium palustre), downy willow-herb (E. strictum), common bog arrow grass (Triglochin maritima), swamp pink (Arethusa bulbosa), and boreal bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata). Animal life is diverse with boreal deer mice and bog lemmings known to inhabit the area. Resident amphibians include leopard and green frogs and American toad. Rare birds include northern harrier (Circus cyaneus), bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and common loon (Gavia immer). Kissick Alkaline Bog Lake is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1983.